FLIGHT International, IB November 1971 797
(Left) Austrian Airlines' four Viscounts are at
Coventry in course of being sold by London
brokers Shackleton Aviation. This one (formerly
OE-IAM) is one of two bought by La Urraca.
It has been engaged on crew training at
Birmingham in recent weeks. (Below) Origin
ally a BEA aircraft, this Argosy 200 was
delivered to Dublin for Aer Turas early this
month. It comes to the Irish airline from
Midwest Airlines, a division of Transair
Canada
BRITISH ILS FOR DULLES
SUPPLIED on lease by the British Department of Trade
and Industry, a Plessey STAN 37/38 ILS installation has
been commissioned at Washington, Dulles, Airport by the
FAA. The installation is identical with that in use at
Heathrow, and these are the first to be promulgated for
use in visibility conditions down to Icao Category 3.
The choice of the Dulles installation followed an evalua
tion programme conducted by Nafec at Atlantic City in
conjunction with trials at several United Kingdom airports.
The STAN 37/38 equipment uses a single modulator and
transmitter to produce localiser and glidepath signals
instead of the more familiar twin transmissions used to
date. This is a factor in achieving reliability within a
design failure rate of one in ten million.
VISCOUNTS TO COLOMBIA
TWO of Austrian Airlines' Viscount 837s have been sold
by Shackleton Aviation to Lineas Aereas La Urraca of
Colombia. The other two are the subject of negotiation
between Shackleton and an unnamed customer, also in
Colombia.
Other sales negotiated recently by Shackleton include
that of a second HS.748 to Dan-Air for a price understood
to be in the region of £250,000. The aircraft is ex-Trans
port Holding Co (half-owner of the former Skyways Coach
Air, now in liquidation). Dan-Air also bought two ex-
Kuwait Comet 4Cs through Shackleton, bringing its total
of the type to 13.
TRIDENTS ON THE MOVE
TWO separate deals involving secondhand Tridents are
currently in negotiation. One may result in the sale of
Channel Airways' pair of Trident lEs to Northeast Airlines
and the other the purchase by Cyprus Airways of two
Tridents—also lEs—from Kuwait Airways.
The Northeast/Channel deal, expected to be announced
officially shortly, will mean that the British Air Services
group airline will next year double its jet capacity. It
already operates two Trident lEs with an all-economy
123-passenger layout and has been investigating the
relative merits of buying more Tridents or settling for
some BAG One-Elevens—either Series 500s or Series 475s.
Until now it has been generally assumed that any
addition of Tridents to the Northeast fleet would be
through transfer of two or three Trident lCs from BEA.
But, because of the initial production version's runway-
gobbling airfield performance, Northeast officials have
privately admitted that they have never been enamoured
of the prospect because of runway limitations at certain
route-network airports.
Somewhat curiously, the first two Tridents that North
east received originally formed part of a Channel order
for five. But the Stansted-based independent, in the event,
only took delivery of two, the fifth aircraft going to
Air Ceylon. Channel took delivery of them in May and
June 1968 for inclusive-tour charter work. Both aircraft
carry the designation Trident 1E-140, denoting that they
are high-density versions with accommodation for up to
139 passengers. Part of the extra capacity was obtained
by using a seven-abreast (four and three) seating arrange
ment in the forward cabin.
For most of this year Channel has only been flying one
of the pair and this has been operating out of West Berlin
under contract to leading West German tour operators.
The other has been parked, non-operational, at Stansted.
Over the past summer Channel had more than its
share of aircraft engineering problems with its jet fleet
which, although numbering only nine aircraft, includes
three different types—five ex-BEA Comet 4Bs and two
One-Eleven 400s in addition to the Tridents. The sale of
the Tridents indicates that the airline may be about to
rationalise its fleet. This impression is heightened by the
fact that it also appears to be attempting to find a market
for its Comet 4Bs.
Shackleton Aviation is advertising the availability of
four Comet 4Bs. Shackleton declined to identify its client,
but the assumption is that it must be Channel since BEA
Airtours, the only other operator of this particular Comet
variant, has said that it has not advertised any for sale.
In any case the BEA group normally finds its own markets
for surplus aircraft rather than working through a broker.
But Capt Hugo Parsons, Channel managing director,
said last week: "We cannot possibly be disposing of any
aircraft because they are committed. They have been
contracted for in 1972."
The negotiations for the two Kuwait Airways Trident
lEs are, it is understood, being conducted on behalf of
Cyprus Airways by BEA. The young Cypriot airline has
been wooed strongly by Boeing which has been plugging
the merits of the 727-200 for the airline's current traffic
boom. But with two Trident 2Es already in service and
with its strong ties with BEA, Cyprus Airways was hardly
likely to change horses. It has made arrangements to lease
a Trident 2E from BEA before taking delivery of addi
tional aircraft. The Kuwait aircraft have been advertised
for sale for some considerable time.
British Midland Airways is introducing weekend services
between Teesside and Heathrow, London. The airline has
operated a weekday service for the past two years.
Indian Airlines has bought two Redifon simulators, one for
the 737 and the other for the HS.748, at a reported price
of £1 • 1 million.
Alitalia is beginning to use DC-8s on certain domestic
trunk routes. Some sectors are being integrated to allow
through-aircraft service, such as Genoa-Rome-Palermo and
Turin-Rome-Palermo.